ABSTRACT
Over recent years, in both the commercial and academic arenas, the value of focus group research has become increasingly recognised. Focus groups involve bringing together a small number of people, normally between five and 10, in order for the group to discuss a particular topic, be that a washing powder, a political party, a social problem or, in this case, young people and sport. The aim of a good focus group is to provide a forum for open discussion, giving participants the freedom to work through an agenda which genuinely reflects their own priorities and concerns, rather than those brought along by the researcher. In this way, the methodology and the resulting data are ethnographic, hopefully reflecting on the perspectives brought to the research by the participants themselves.
